{"title":"The Politics of e-Learning: A Play in Four Acts","authors":"C. Livermore, M. Raisinghani, Pierluigi Rippa","doi":"10.4018/IJEP.2015040103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEP.2015040103","url":null,"abstract":"rights, including translation into other languages reserved by the publisher. No part of this journal may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher, except for noncommercial, educational use including classroom teaching purposes. Product or company names used in this journal are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. The views expressed in this journal are those of the authors but not necessarily of IGI Global.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"99 1","pages":"30-42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81905822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tweeting Negative: Determinants of Negative Campaigning in the 2011 Gubernatorial Elections","authors":"M. Bekafigo, Allison Clark Pingley","doi":"10.4018/IJEP.2015010103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEP.2015010103","url":null,"abstract":"The use of negative ads in traditional election campaigns has been well-documented, but the authors know little about the use of Twitter to \"go negative.\" They content analyze candidate tweets from four different gubernatorial elections in 2011 to understand how candidates are using Twitter. They coded 849 tweets to explain the determinants of \"going negative\" on Twitter. The results show that while tweets are overwhelmingly positive, candidates go negative by tweeting about policy. They believe this supports the innovation hypothesis, with Twitter being a more conducive forum for policy-based messages. Other determinants of negative campaigning such as competitiveness of the race and campaign funding were consistent with the normalization hypothesis.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"30-41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73725082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Twitplomacy: Social Media as a New Platform for Development of Public Diplomacy","authors":"Shumin Su, X. Xu","doi":"10.4018/IJEP.2015010102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEP.2015010102","url":null,"abstract":"Social media, underpinned by mobile devices and smart-technology, is rapidly changing the way how people communicate. In the context of public diplomacy, micro-blogging-based diplomacy, e.g. Twitplomacy is emerging. Twitplomacy has been carried out by not only the central government of a state and relevant organizations, but also millions individuals globally. Twitplomacy has been seen as a new platform expanding the channels of public diplomacy. Its impact on diplomacy policy and international relations tends to be huge but too early to know and difficult to quantify. This paper uses microblogs collected from United States Embassy in China, examined the characteristics and functions of Twitplomacy, the participants and the motivation, as well as the effect of Twitplomacy. The results are insightful to both researchers and practitioners in the community of diplomacy and international relations.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"49 1","pages":"16-29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88442561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Using Twitter in Political Campaigns: The Case of the PRI Candidate in Mexico","authors":"Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazán","doi":"10.4018/IJEP.2015010101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEP.2015010101","url":null,"abstract":"Social media has invaded elections in Mexico. However, the power of citizens through the use of this platform is still unknown. Many citizens criticize political candidates using Twitter, others build networks and some others try to collaborate with candidates. This research is focused in understanding this kind of behavior, analyzing the case of the presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto PRI in Mexico who won the presidency with a large participation but without the support of Twitter users. After two online protests against this presidential candidate-#IamnotProletariat and #Iam132-political image could have been undermined and voters could have thought differently. But this was not the case and despite of this, the candidate won. The challenge to understand this online protest and its link to the political campaign is addressed in this paper.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"47 1","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76217716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From Street Protests to Facebook Campaigns: Political Cynicism, Efficacy and Online Political Engagement of Sri Lankan Students","authors":"C. Rathnayake","doi":"10.4018/IJEP.2015010104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEP.2015010104","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines effects of political cynicism and efficacy on online political engagement of Sri Lankan undergraduates. A survey was conducted among 155 Sri Lankan undergraduates that support the views of the Inter-University Student Federation IUSF, an evidently anti-government student movement that claims to be dedicated to protecting free education in the country. Initial analysis showed that respondents were highly cynical mean: 4.49 on a 1 to 5 scale. The study hypothesized that both political cynicism and efficacy exert a positive impact on online political engagement of respondents. The study also tested the effects of two moderators extent of Facebook use, and the year of study. Results showed that political cynicism exerts a positive impact standardized coefficient:.274, p:.000 on online political engagement, and this effect is positively moderated by the extent of Facebook use standardized coefficient:.261, p:.000. Results also showed that internal political efficacy is not a significant predictor of the dependent variable.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"1 1","pages":"42-58"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88556847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trolls Just Want To Have Fun: Electronic Aggression within the Context of e-Participation and Other Online Political Behaviour in the United Kingdom","authors":"Shefali Virkar","doi":"10.4018/ijep.2014100102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijep.2014100102","url":null,"abstract":"Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in Government has declined visibly in several Western liberal democracies owing to a distinct lack of opportunities for citizen participation in political processes; and has instead given way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices. The rise of the Internet as a global communications medium and the advent of digital platforms has opened up huge opportunities and raised new challenges for public institutions and agencies, with digital technology creating new forms of community; empowering citizens and reforming existing power structures in a way that has rendered obsolete or inappropriate many of the tools and processes of traditional democratic politics. Through an analysis of the No. 10 Downing Street ePetitions Initiative based in the United Kingdom, this article seeks to engage with issues related to the innovative use of network technology by Government to involve citizens in policy processes within existing democratic frameworks in order to improve administration, to reform democratic processes, and to renew citizen trust in institutions of governance. In particular, the work seeks to examine whether the application of the new Information and Communication Technologies to participatory democracy in the Government 2.0 era would eventually lead to radical transformations in government functioning, policymaking, and the body politic, or merely to modest, unspectacular political reform and to the emergence of technology-based, obsessive-compulsive pathologies and Internet-based trolling behaviours amongst individuals in society.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"64 1","pages":"21-51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76056464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Freedom of Expression On-Line: Rights and Responsibilities of Internet Service Providers","authors":"Joanna Kulesza","doi":"10.4018/ijep.2014100103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijep.2014100103","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses the contents of the universal right to free expression in the context of its applicability on-line. It starts off with a brief recapitulation of the origin, definition and interpretation of the right to free expression, derived from article 19 UDHR. It then goes on to name the three composite rights (the right to hold, impart and receive information and ideas) and details the limitations that may be put by states upon the individual exercise of those freedoms. States' duty to protect free expression is than identified as their negative obligation to refrain from infringement as well as a positive one, to guarantee that human rights are \"protected, respected and remedied\" within national legal systems. Then the role of Internet Service Providers is introduced as the gate keepers of free expression in the information society. Different schemes for national ISP liability mechanisms are presented: the notice-and-take down procedure as well as Internet content filtering (preventive censorship). The paper goes on to criticize both mechanisms as enabling ISPs too much freedom in deciding upon the shape and scope of individuals' right to impart and receive information.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"94 1","pages":"52-65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73618519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dealing with Internet Trolling in Political Online Communities: Towards the This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Scale","authors":"J. Bishop","doi":"10.4018/ijep.2014100101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijep.2014100101","url":null,"abstract":"Internet trolling has become a popularly used term to describe the posting of any content on the Internet which is provocative or offensive. This is different from the original meaning online in the 1990s, which referred to the posting of provocative messages for humourous effect. Those systems operators (sysops) who run online communities are finding they are being targeted because of abuse posted on their platforms. Political discussion groups are some of the most prone to trolling, whether consensual or unwanted. Many such websites ara open for anyone to join, meaning when some members post messages they know are offensive but legal, others might find grossly offensive, meaning these messages could be illegal. This paper develops a questionnaire called the This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Scale (TIWWCHNT-20), which aims to help sysops better plan the development of online communities to take account of different users' capacity to be offended, and for users to self-assess whether they will be suited to an online community. The scale is discussed in relation to different Internet posting techniques where different users will act differently.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"6 1","pages":"1-20"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80506883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Internet Regulation and Online Censorship","authors":"N. Koumartzis, A. Veglis","doi":"10.4018/ijep.2014100104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijep.2014100104","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the development of Internet regulation policies worldwide since the birth of the World Wide Web, describes the advantages and disadvantages of the main filtering methods in use today, and presents two of the most important Internet Regulation Systems (IRS) implemented in authoritarian regimes and Western democracies around the globe. Moreover, the authors propose the conduction of well-designed surveys worldwide in order to measure Internet User's opinion and use such results as a starting point for developing a fair \"Internet Regulation System\" (fair IRS) in the future. Last, the authors introduce a new online tool for conducting related surveys, www.WebObserver.net project.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"66-81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84316627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Campaigning Online, Locally","authors":"Azi Lev-on","doi":"10.4018/ijep.2014070102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijep.2014070102","url":null,"abstract":"How do candidates for municipal office use the Internet in their campaigns, and are there differences between candidates according to the character of the constituencies and the races? This is the first a country-wide study of website usage in low-visibility political campaigns for municipal offices. Data were collected during municipal elections campaigns that took place in Israel in three cycles between November 2007 and February 2009, in 143 different municipalities and involving almost 500 candidates across Israel. 1The paper explores the characteristics of municipal campaigning, including the scope of website usage, the features available in candidates' websites, variables predicting website usage, and the perceptions of candidates regarding websites' effectiveness. While Websites were used by half of the candidates, they tended to be static and include very few interactive features. The characteristics of the constituencies and the races were correlated with the scope of Website usage by contenders.","PeriodicalId":13695,"journal":{"name":"Int. J. E Politics","volume":"50 1","pages":"16-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73706471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}